This invention relates to a garment for convalescents who are confined to wheelchairs and secured therein for safety reasons by a restraining device. More particularly, it relates to a decorative, dignified and highly functional gown which is designed to promote the physical and psychological rehabilitation of convalescents.
In care and rehabilitation institutions, it is common to find invalid patients, particularly elderly persons and stroke victims, confined to wheelchairs. Often, such patients lack upper body strength and cannot control their movements. For example, such patients can slide forward in their wheelchairs, or even turn over their wheelchairs, thereby sustaining injuries. To remedy these problems, various restraining devices have been employed to limit a patient's movement while seated in a wheelchair. A commonly used type of restraining device is a pelvic restraint, which fits underneath a patient's gown and between his or her legs like a diaper; two sets of straps are used to secure the pelvic restraint by buckling or tying behind the wheelchair.
When pelvic restraints are used with women convalescents wearing dresses or hospital gowns, the skirts of their dresses and gowns overlap the restraint straps such that the woman's lower back and thigh regions remain exposed. Moreover, the skirts do not fall gracefully over her knees and have a tendency to creep upward toward her hips, revealing private parts of the body. Where there remain exposed body parts, a woman convalescent is not provided with sufficient warmth and, further, is susceptible to abrasions and skin irritation caused by the rubbing of straps or the wheelchair itself against her skin. Thus, conventional dresses and hospital gowns have been less than satisfactory for use by such women convalescents.
One proposed solution to these problems has been to request that women confined to wheelchairs wear slacks. This solution is unavailable, however, to patients who suffer from increased pain as can be caused by lifting their legs into a pair of slacks. Also, many women find slacks less comfortable than a dress. Still other, and particularly elderly, women consider it improper or distasteful to wear slacks. Furthermore, when used with slacks, the pelvic restraint devices show, causing the patient to feel more self-conscious and helpless, and thus making the patient harder to rehabilitate. A second solution has been to provide a lap robe to women convalescents. These lap robes, however, frequently come untied and fall from the patient's lap. These alternatives, while addressing the basic problems, are less than desirable because they fail to provide the self-esteem and femininity accorded a woman by a pretty dress and required for complete rehabilitation.